1993 - Centenary Conference

From the GA News. Details of HRH Princess Anne attending the Centenary conference at Firth Hall in Sheffield, at the University of Sheffield.

Neville Grenyer

Neville Grenyer died in 2008.

He was a significant figure in geographical education and a teacher at Haberdashers' Aske's School, which also has a connection with Michael Morrish. He was one of a group of teachers who saw the potential for changing the subject in the 1970s, eventually becoming an HMI. He was one of the authors of the Oxford Geography Project, along with John Rolfe, Rosemary Dearden, Ashley Kent himself, and Clive Rowe.

He was a colleague of Ashley Kent and met on PGCE placement at Haberdasher's Askes school.

He studied for his PGCE at King's College London before moving to St. Dunstan's College where he joined a department led by Brian Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald was working with John Everson to publish books which changed a lot of teachers' practice. Neville ended up marrying Rosemary Deardon and they had two children together. He also wrote the very popular book (I have a copy in my cupboard) 'Investigating Physical Geography' while at Winchester College.

He retired from his HMI role in 2006.

Reference

Obituary: By Peter R Smith in 'Geography' in 2009

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00167487.2009.12094255

1998: Martin Curry

Updated May 2021

Martin Curry was never the President of the GA, but was the first CEO of the Association.
This was a bold move, and one that changed the way that the GA was run, in terms of its structure.
It was mentioned by Rex Walford in a chapter in "Issues in Geography Education" (Fisher & Binns, Ed) (2000)



There was an interview with Martin published in the TES in April 1999.
It mentioned his background before taking up the job:

"Not that he knows that much about the mechanics of school-teaching, he admits cheerfully, as he has never had to do it himself."

A biography followed:

Martin Curry was born in Bollington, east Cheshire, in 1952. Educated at King Edward VI Grammar School in Macclesfield, he studied law at London University before spending three years as an articled clerk, culminating in his Law Society finals in 1976.

It was his legal training which got him his first paid environmental job as administrative officer for the Lincolnshire and South Humberside Trust.

But his big break came in 1982 when he became manager of Gibraltar Point nature reserve, south of Skegness. It was a good induction to the life of a reserve manager, combining solitude with total immersion in the local community. He also met his future wife Mary, known as Midge, who had replaced him at the Lincolnshire and South Humberside Trust. The pair moved to Yorkshire in 1987, where Mr Curry became head of information services at North York Moors National Park, responsible for visitors' centres and school services. From there they moved to the Scottish Deer Centre in Fife, to what was practically a joint appointment for the couple with Mr Curry as general manager and his wife as his assistant in the privately-owned park.

They moved to Rum in 1992 to take up what Mr Curry describes as "a dream job, something I had held as my ultimate ambition for 20 years". He has fond memories of the island, but decided to leave after Scottish Natural Heritage said it wanted to develop a sustainable community on Rum.
The Isle of Rum is a place I have also visited, and spent a week there working for the Scottish Nature Conservancy Council removing non-native rhododendrons and doing some painting in the castle.

The President of the GA at the time was Roger Carter, who said:
 "He may not have a background of teaching in schools, but he is clearly in tune with what is important to the GA in terms of his commitment to outdoor education, environment and sustainability."
Martin was also featured on the front cover of the 'GA News' in January 1999, with a picture and some further details.

He stayed in post for a short time before moving to another role, as outlined in this GA News piece:

Martin was eventually succeeded as Chief Executive by David Lambert in 2002. (PDF download)

References
https://www.tes.com/news/beyond-island-dreamsbriefingpeople

1998: Mr. Roger C Carter

Updated August 2022

When I first started writing this blog entry, I couldn't find much about Roger C Carter, and he remained a bit of a mystery, but I have assembled more with thanks to the Presidents who served near to him, particularly Jeremy Krause.

Roger was the editor of the first Primary Geography Handbook in the year of his Presidency and was working as Geography advisor and school inspector at the time.

Jeremy Krause told me:

"Roger was born in 1938 in Hove and attended Hove County Grammar School. His childhood was spent camping on the South Downs, reading maps, earning badges and proudly becoming a Queen’s Scout before studying at Nottingham University. A grounding for his love of geography, life and Brighton and Hove Albion!"

He was the youngest of four children.

After University he embarked on a career in education, first as a teacher and then as an Inspector. He was one of those teachers who would regularly have ex-pupils approaching them to say hello, often

years after the said pupils had left school. He mixed professionalism and competence with humour, approachability and a passion for his subject: Geography. This mix would be the hallmark of his whole

professional career."

From the family eulogy, via Jeremy Krause:

"He taught at Coalbrookdale School and at Abraham Darby School, and although his professional life then moved to Staffordshire, he continued to live in Shropshire. He fell in love with this county and

lived for the majority of his life there. He loved the beauty of the countryside and the view of Wenlock Edge from the house, not to mention the interesting oxbow lakes on the Severn near Buildwas."

Roger was also involved in an intiative called TVEI, which for a while was very significant in education. In my own school, in the late 1980s we had a colleague who was actually geography trained, but worked on the TVEI initiative. TVEI stands for Technical and Vocational Education Initiative. 

Roger wrote about the TVEI and Geography as well.

Professor Simon Catling told me that he was a LEA Inspector in Staffordshire which gave me something to go on, and do some more research.

He was an advisory teacher and Inspector in Staffordshire for over 20 years, according to items submitted to 'Teaching Geography', so he must have predated Chris Durbin in the role (more on Chris in a future post as we approach the founding of SLN close to this time)

I also found him featured on the front cover of the GA News in 1998. This also mentions the appointment of the GA's first new Chief Executive Martin Curry, who will have a post on the blog later. Roger was helpful in supporting Jeremy Krause, who will also have a post on the blog in due course, in organising the running of the Association for a while around this time. There was also significant work to respond to consultations:

Carter, Roger. “A Modular Approach to a Relevant Curriculum.” Teaching Geography, vol. 13, no. 2, 1988, pp. 57–60. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/23754721. Accessed 22 Jan. 2021.

Carter, Roger. “The GA Responds to the Draft Proposals for Geography.” Teaching Geography, vol. 19, no. 4, 1994, pp. 158–159. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/23756163. Accessed 22 Jan. 2021.

Details of Roger's Presidential Address were published in GA News in July 1999, and in Geography in October 1999. It was delievered at UMIST, and was on the theme of 'Connecting Geography'.



Keith Grimwade also has memories of him from his own time working on GA Committees, and also the Action Plan for Geography.

"I remember Roger Carter’s choice of hotels - he was always looking to save the GA money and we stayed at some interesting places, some of which seemed very busy in the early hours of the morning!"

In his Presidential Address, Roger talked about 'An Agenda for Action' and connecting up Key Stages and other geographies.

Roger says in his address that:

"I came across the details of the Staffordshire Geographical Exhibition of 1934. The Exhibition gave rise to an account, edited by Jasper H. Stembridge. Here is an extract from Stembridge's account:

 'The Staffordshire Geographical Exhibition proved that the popular press and the general public are deeply interested in education. On the second day the Exhibition was thronged. On the third and subsequent days it was so crowded in the afternoons and evenings that it was often difficult to make one's way round the rooms. Owing to requests received from all parts of the country it was decided to keep it open for a further three days' (Stembridge, 1934, p. 12). 

Sir Frances Goodenough, wrote, in a letter to The Times: 

A remarkable and valuable exhibition. An exhibition of modern methods of teaching geography as practised in every type of institution in the county, from the infant school to Birmingham University. The Exhibition is the product of unusually complete teamwork in which teachers, the LEA, the Board of Education and the employers have all co-operated' 

(Sir Frances Goodenough quoted in Stembridge, 1934)

The then President of the GA, Professor PM. Roxby, was equally enthusiastic about the event: 'Here was the new geography - pulsating with life - presented with a freshness of outlook, but with a deep conviction of the importance of the subject and its underlying principles' (Roxby quoted in Stembridge, 1934, p. 13).

The following came from Jeremy Krause:

At the start of his GA Presidential Address in 1999 Roger looked around the packed lecture theatre and said, ‘There’s a lot of you… I’m used to seeing you in small groups in pubs and meeting rooms.’ We were those in small groups and as individuals who gained so much from being with Roger. This wasn’t a random action, it was central to Roger’s being.

It’s best summed up by a quote from the ‘Geovisions’ project, in which he played such an important part, used in the conclusion of his Address.

‘We need: A renewed emphasis on the professionalism of teachers.

We need fewer voices telling us what to do and how to do it.

Equally, we must reassert our own professional responsibility.’

Roger was so generous of spirit, we were all blessed to know him, work with him, share a joke, but also be prepared to be challenged and expected to find a better way to teach and learn geography.

His employment over the years involved schools in Shropshire and Staffordshire; Madeley College; Staffordshire LA, the GA’s Geography Adviser Network; the Geography North-West Consortium, TIDE and Government Agencies.

In the late 1990s, when he chaired the Education Committee of the GA (a position which is now held by the acting President during their Presidential year, Roger started a discussion about the future of Geography in the National Curriculum.

https://www.tes.com/news/feet-back-firmer-ground - TES piece from 1994

Roger died in 2017. His obituary was written by Jeremy Krause, who also passed me further documents on his life.

This is the cover of the first Primary Geography handbook which Roger edited - some reading this may well have copies on their shelves. Roger was also instrumental in shaping the GA's CPD programme, which continues to this day, and which I had the privilege of being involved with for many years.

If anyone knows more about Roger Carter and his work for the GA, or has other memories please get in touch. Particular thanks to Jeremy Krause here.

References

Carter, R. (ed.) (1998), Handbook of Primary Geography, Sheffield: Geographical Association

Carter, Roger. “Millennium 2000 Geography.” Teaching Geography, vol. 22, no. 4, 1997, pp. 195–195. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/23755757. Accessed 22 Jan. 2021.

Carter, Roger. “A Modular Approach to a Relevant Curriculum.” Teaching Geography, vol. 13, no. 2, 1988, pp. 57–60. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/23754721. Accessed 22 Nov. 2020.

LYNCH, KENNETH. “The Future of Geography: The Debate Continues.” Geography, vol. 87, no. 2, 2002, pp. 155–159. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40573671. Accessed 22 Nov. 2020.

CARTER, ROGER. “Connecting Geography: An Agenda for Action.” Geography, vol. 84, no. 4, 1999, pp. 289–297. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40573334. Accessed 22 Nov. 2020.

Ofsted Revisited

Campion, Kate, et al. “OFSTED Revisited: How to Make the Best Use of Prior Experience.” Teaching Geography, vol. 22, no. 4, 1997, pp. 170–172. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/23755750. Accessed 16 Jan. 2021.

Written with Jeremy Krause.

Updated February 2021

A really interesting article that Roger wrote for Primary Geography.

Thanks to Simon Catling for the image from his archive.

The photo at the top of the blog post is courtesy of Kate Russell, via Jeremy Krause, and was taken at Roger's retirement do from his Staffordshire Advisory service job.

Updated March 2021

While doing some preparation for some CPD for Primary colleagues, I noticed that Tessa Willy's 

Primary Handbook published by the GA called 'Leading Primary Geography' is dedicated to Roger.

A memory from Jeremy Krause

At the start of his GA Presidential Address in 1999, Roger Carter looked around the packed lecture theatre and said, ‘There’s a lot of you… I’m used to seeing you in small groups in pubs and meeting rooms.’ We were those in small groups and as individuals who gained so much from being with Roger. This wasn’t a random action, it was central to Roger’s being. It’s best summed up by a quote from the ‘Geovisions’ project, in which he played such an important part, used in the conclusion of his Address.

‘We need: A renewed emphasis on the professionalism of teachers. We need fewer voices telling us what to do and how to do it. Equally, we must reassert our own professional responsibility.’ 

Roger’s impact on us as individuals was best expressed in his son Alan’s eulogy where he referred to messages from former colleagues, ’ Dad was an inspiration to them, or gave them the start which defined their subsequent career, or helped them at a difficult time. ‘ I am proud to say I was one of those who Roger valued and supported. 

1998: GeoVisions

The GeoVisions Committee of the GA was active from the 1998 through to around the year 2000. It was looking at what a geography for the 21st Century would need to be. Now that we are a fifth of the way through it, have we managed it...

It involved a committee of various people who have been related to the GA for many decades and included people I have worked with on projects myself, particularly Di Swift, who chaired the project, and Chris Durbin. Linda Thompson is also mentioned, who was Chair of the Secondary Committee when I joined it, but then moved on to another role. Diane also led the Young People's Geographies project, of which more to come later. 

The strapline of the project was:

‘Create the future … don’t just let it happen’ 

The full list can be seen below:

Coordinated by Roger Carter a former GA President who is next up on the blog. It was also referenced by Keith Grimwade in his Presidential lecture.

Mentioned by him in his Presidential lecture:

It is hard to look into the future with any certainty. I have been working with the Geo Visions Project (Carter et al., 1998) ' in order to help to raise the debate about the future of geography. I would like to close with what the Geo Visions Team believe a geography for the twenty-first century will need: 

 • A renewed emphasis on the professionalism of teachers We need fewer voices telling us what to do and how to do it. Equally, we must reassert our own professional responsibility.

 • A focus on children and young people Let us focus less on what is to be done to them and more on their hopes and fears for the future. It is their world too: we should listen to them more.  

• An all-inclusive debate about future needs Education is far too important to be left in the hands of a few, be they educators, politicians or chief inspectors. We must keep the debate open. 

 • Attention to alternative and preferred futures Education for the twenty-first century should engender a real feeling by everyone that they matter in society and that they can make a difference individually or collectively. 

 • Commitment to the capabilities for a better world. The knowledge and skills needed to compete industrially are not necessarily the same as those needed to build equitable, sustainable communities. We need a broader vision, and a better balance between skills and knowledge on the one hand, and values and commitment on the other. 

 • A critique of geography as a subject to promote a better world

Any memories of engagement with this project welcome.

A booklet was produced in assocation with TIDE Global (PDF download)

A report as well.

This includes a quote from Roger Crofts, of SAGT, who is someone I've met several times, most recently at an FSC 75th Anniversary event where he spoke about his life in geography:

“It is essential that geography is not just seen as social geography or cultural geography or biogeography or geomorphology, but that there is some interlinking between these different elements if the subject is to retain its relevance.” 

Professor Roger Crofts, COBRIG Seminar 1998

To find out more about more recent GA projects, head for this relatively new archive page on the GA website which details what the project work of the GA has involved. I am proud to have been involved in quite a few of these projects over the years, including the most recent GEO project, for which I am currently writing some materials.

GeoVisions also led into the OCR Pilot GCSE Geography, of which more to come...

References

Carter, Roger, et al. “The Geo Visions Project.” Teaching Geography, vol. 23, no. 4, 1998, pp. 201–202. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/23755721. Accessed 22 Jan. 2021.

Robinson, Roger, et al. “Wiser People — Better World?” Teaching Geography, vol. 24, no. 1, 1999, pp. 10–13. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/23755686. Accessed 22 Jan. 2021.

If anyone has memories of participation in this project, or knows of the outcomes, please let me know. It looks to have huge relevance today.

1998: The view from the Window

Thanks to Frances Soar, former Senior Administrator for the GA for sending me this piece from the Sheffield Telegraph in 1998 when the Geography through the Window project was launched as part of the Geography Action Week. 50 000 posters were printed apparently.

Frances told me in an earlier email:

Seeing the area further develop around Solly Street was fascinating. I have a vivid memory of standing with Rex Walford at one of Solly Street's first floor windows, leaning on the window sill and looking out at the landscape below with all the features that in a single view told the history and geography of our city - 'Geography Through the Window' came not long afterwards. Sadly, that wonderful view up the Don Valley (which also provided a helpful weather forecast and bird's eye view of traffic levels as we planned our evening journeys home), was eventually blocked by all those smart new blocks of student flats.

It's a lovely piece as it also makes clear Frances' own strong connections with Sheffield: the long-term home of the GA.

Does anyone still have one of the original posters? I hope to be able to find one in the archive when I finally get a chance to visit it in person again...

St. Catharine's College, Cambridge

I have previously mentioned St. Catharine's College, Cambridge, and have heard a lot about it via Presidents who went there themselves.

Ashley Kent told me something about this, as being one of the 'hotspots' for Geography - something I'm going to develop a little more perhaps, by focussing on some of these other hotspots such as Hull and Bristol.

A number of Presidents can connect themselves to this college in some way, and I have previously blogged about them.

It's time for our alphabet #ThrowbackThursday! Today it's G for Geography. St Catharine's alumnus, Alfred Steers (pictured wearing glasses in this 1920 College rugby team photo), gained a 1st in the first Geography Part II Tripos exam in 1921. He went on to Head @CamUniGeography. pic.twitter.com/96fAbX7yRq

— St Catharine's College (@Catz_Cambridge) August 2, 2018

The St Catharine's College website is here.

There is an archive of magazines dating back many decades, and in which one can find mentions of the GA Presidents who have been connected with the college. I had a quick look and 

Here's Ashley Kent with some memories of St. Catharine's:

My college...St Catharine’s College Cambridge....has always been a Geography ‘hotspot’....a great place where quite a few people who were prominent in the GA...attended.
These include...Steers, Balchin, Spooner, Kent, Bradford, Keeble et al. Many of us were very fortunate to have been tutored by ‘Gus’ Caesar.......arguably the ‘source’ of an extraordinary group of geography professors across the world.....Haggett/Dury/Hall/Randall/ et al...a remarkable ‘father figure’ to many.

Someone who Ashley mentions is 'Gus' Caesar.

More on Gus was added in a separate blog post previously.

J A Steers was someone who was very definitely linked with the college.

His memorial has been mentioned as well. It can be seen in the college magazines, which would also reveal other details on the geographers who passed through the college. This was a signed silver salver presented to J A Steers in 1966 on the occasion of his retirement:

1996: What can CD-ROMs do for us?

Good questions. The answers were to be found in this 'Teaching Geography' article by Fred Martin and Diane Swift.

I'm sure we all have some in a box somewhere...

Reference

Martin, Fred, and Diane Swift. “What Can CD-ROMs Do for Us?” Teaching Geography, vol. 21, no. 1, 1996, pp. 20–23. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/23753746. Accessed 22 Jan. 2021.

The move to Solly Street #1

I've previously blogged about the GA's move from 343 Fulwood Road to Solly Street in 1996-7

Fulwood Road was the GA's HQ from the mid 1960s to the late 1990s.

Frances Soar, Chief Adminstrator of the GA for many years got me started on some of her memories of this time. She was involved in assisting with the move, and some additional complications from the time, which I have blogged about previously.

The old Roman Catholic area of St Vincent's is certainly worth further study - an excellent book about it was published by the Church when they moved up to Crookes: it's available on line The Sheffield Indexers - History of St Vincents written by Ted Cummings.

Frances is the first of several people who will share their memories. It is a pity the memories of some of the other moves of the GA are not so easy to collect.

Frances told me:

At the back of Solly Street when we first moved in, before the block of flats just above us on Solly St. was built, there were still apple trees from the time when the area had old housing, and I once met a lady who remembered visiting her grandparents in a house there when she was small. Some of the trees were still there in my time, by the access drive to the back yard.

343 Fulwood Road was a lovely old house, but totally impractical for housing the publications business that had become such an important part of the GA's service. Deliveries of new publications were by then arriving shrink wrapped on pallets in huge delivery vehicles that couldn't get down the narrow, bendy, drive. 

We had to unload boxes from pallets on big lorries parked on the main road, and cart the heavy boxes down to the house one by one, sometimes reversing my poor little Austin Metro up the drive and back down again with a few boxes in the boot each time, all under the impatient gaze of the lorry driver who was anxious to get to his next drop. 

Once inside, we had to cart the boxes up steep steps to the first floor, where they filled the spaces around and under our desks until sold, or were hauled up to the attic where we nervously stacked them as close to the walls as possible, hoping that the weight wouldn't bring down the ceiling.

Eventually we were forced to move most of our stock to the premises of a local storage company. Unfortunately, they moved our stock to a less secure location without telling us, and a fire there destroyed the lot. 

Lack of storage space also meant that each quarter we had to hope that all the deliveries of journals and their inserts would arrive at exactly the same time, on the same morning and at the same place (a local church hall) so that we could prepare everything for mailing, helped by a small army of volunteers. I lost count of the times we had to postpone the whole exercise because one journal had been delayed for some reason.

It was clear that we needed either to 'outsource' everything, or find a proper warehouse and packing space, as well as offices for the GA staff and meeting rooms for the GA committees, ideally within easy reach of the railway station and with good vehicle access for deliveries.

The problem was finding suitable alternative premises. 

After careful consideration, the GA decided to stay in Sheffield, so we started looking locally, discovering all too soon that whilst it was fairly easy to find a suitable warehouse with a small office, or suitable offices with a tiny storage area, finding the two combined was a real challenge. With the help of former GA President Professor Stan Gregory, who lived in Sheffield and who volunteered to take part in the search, we looked at various possible places in and around Sheffield, eventually drawing up a shortlist for further consideration. 

On a hot June Saturday in 1996 my Metro was pressed into service once again to take several Officers including I think Ashley Kent and Neil Simmonds to look at a few possible buildings. At some point I pulled off the road close to the town centre for us to 'take stock' before the visitors had to catch their trains home, which was when Ashley (I think) spotted a 'to let' board on a nearby building. Peering at what we could see of the empty premises we realised it was worth further investigation. 

A little bit of serendipity then in the choice of location.

Solly Street is located in an area called 'St. Vincent's', once the heart of Sheffield's Catholic community, which had developed into a centre of old Sheffield industries such as toolmakers and knife manufacturers. 

By the 1990s, further changes were happening, as manufacturers with viable businesses began to move to more suitable premises elsewhere, and others, sadly, disappeared altogether. Many of the old church buildings along Solly Street were becoming run down, St Vincent's Church itself having been empty for some years. 

I occasionally used the parking business which opened up in the old church yard as an overflow option when the spaces outside Solly Street were full, or were needed for visitors.

Our building had been built by a stainless steel architectural fabricator for his own business - hence the smart stainless stair rail and front door we inherited. 

This I did not know!

After he retired it had been let by his widow and daughters to various companies. 

As our GA geographers astutely spotted, this was a good time to take up a lease there, as the area had huge but as yet unrealised potential for upgrading. This is of course what has happened, with old factories and patches of wasteland replaced by modern apartment blocks, and the former church and its ancillary buildings improved for other uses. I remember watching foxes in the waste ground opposite the GA.

Whilst preparing the staff for the move, Frances timed how long it took to walk up to the city centre and what sort of walk it would be. Staff were going to miss the shops, bank and other services at Broomhill so it was helpful to know they could easily get to and from the city centre. 

Coincidentally, two former members of the GA's staff at Solly Street now run a business in Broomhill called Ginger. More on Lucy Oxley and Anne Greaves' involvement with the GA as we get nearer to the present day.

The Trustees agreed to take the Solly Street lease a quarter before the Fulwood Road lease expired, so we were able to prepare the old premises for our departure and the new premises for our arrival without disrupting services to members. It was quite moving to say goodbye to a building that had been such an important part of the GA's history, with its impressive fireplaces and other original features no longer boxed in or covered up, looking much more like the proud private house it once was, ready for new occupants.

An early task at Solly Street was to persuade the authorities to give the building, then called 'Greco House', a proper address with a street number - a surprisingly complex exercise. 

The GA did contemplate inventing another name for the building, but characteristically chose to be practical rather than pretentious.

Further memories of the move to Solly Street to come...

1997: Wendy (Morgan) Atkins

Updated September 2023

Wendy Morgan was the first editor of 'Primary Geographer' when it launched in 1988-9, and the very existence of the journal is partly down to her efforts over the years. She is a 'rare' President in that she came from a Primary background.

Wendy Morgan was also the GA President when the GA officially opened its Solly Street HQ, having moved from Fulwood Road as described in recent posts on the blog. 

Wendy was the person who officially 'cut the ribbon' on what had previously been called 'Greco House' when it was opened in 1997.

She worked for a time at Elmsett Primary School in Suffolk.

She was also part of the the National Curriculum Working Group which has been mentioned elsewhere on the blog, with the work of other GA luminaries including Eleanor Rawling, Michael Storm and Rex Walford (also all former Presidents) which did such important work during the late 1980s to shape school geography and the curriculum - important work for the GA over the decades since it was founded.

Other members of this NCWG were:

Mrs. Kay Edwards—Head of Geography, Penglais Comprehensive School, Aberystwyth
Mr. Richard Lethbridge—Former chairman, Tower Steel (Holdings) plc, now a branch secretary of the Country Landowners' Association
Mrs. Wendy Morgan—Recently retired headmistress of Elmsett Primary School, Suffolk
Dr. Keith Paterson—Senior Lecturer in Geography, Liverpool Institute of Higher Education
Mrs. Eleanor Rawling—National Co-ordinator, Geography Schools and Industry Project
Mr. Michael Storm—Staff Inspector for Geography and Environmental Studies, Inner London Education Authority
Mrs. Rachel Thomas—Member of the Countryside Commission and Exmoor National Park Committee
Mr. Rex Walford—Lecturer in Geography and Education, University of Cambridge

It's worth reading this interview in the TES, which provides a lot more information about her work to promote Primary Geography.

Wendy's Presidency took us back to former teachers being GA President as well, which was rare in a period when a lot of teacher educators and academics held the post. The 90s and early 2000s were light on teacher Presidents.

This was also in the run up to the increasing professionalisation of the GA.

Wendy edited the first 23 issues of the GA's Primary Geographer journal as well, which is a fantastic contribution as each journal takes a lot of effort to produce to a high quality that is expected of GA publications. The journal currently has guest editors from within the Primary community rather than a permanent editor, which provides a number of different perspectives across the year and the Primary Geography Editorial board is chaired by a former President Steve Rawlinson.

This is the announcement of Wendy's Presidency in the GA News at the time.



Simon Catling told me:

Wendy Morgan was interviewed in Primary Geography recently. Wendy was a primary teacher who was briefly a rural school head. 
She was involved with the old Primary and Middle Schools Committee for many years, was its secretary and chaired it during the mid/latter 1980s into the 1990s.

Wendy says in the interview in PG journal that: 

I wasn’t a trained geographer. I did set out to be a geography graduate but was turned down because I didn’t have Latin, so I wasn’t able to pursue it that way.

Wendy was awarded for her efforts over the year with Honorary GA Membership.
This was recorded in the GA News also.

Simon Catling, former President said of her Presidency: 

Wendy Morgan (1997-98) brought the freshness of the primary teacher to her year, as well as her long service on the Primary and Middle Schools Committees. 

In an interview with the TES in 1998, she talked about her first experiences with geography:

As with many geographers, she explains the importance of family holidays:

When Wendy Morgan was preparing to sit her geography O-level in the 1950s, her father didn't buy her a revision guide. "He realised that I had never seen a mountain, because we lived on the outskirts of London, so he whisked me up to the Peak District on a train one Saturday," she recalls. "Dad was an engineer, not an educationist, but he had a very wide interest in places he'd been to and fantastic knowledge. I grew up in the war, and people didn't travel about much, but he remembered everywhere he'd ever been. There's so much opportunity for fieldwork, taking children outside. You can do a huge amount inside the school grounds. Then there's another wonderful dimension just beyond the school gates, then the excitement of bringing places overseas close to home."

She collaborated with Vincent Bunce on a number of her writing projects.

Bill Chamber, President in 2004 described her as follows:

She was the first Primary School President of the GA. She was responsible for the launch of the journal Primary Geographer and was its first editor. She was an indefatigable and creative person. She was responsible for the St Lucia Resources Pack which was used by many primary schools in the early days of the Geography National Curriculum. 

Her GA Presidential theme was called 'Geography for All'. 

Her address was given at the University of Leeds.

She starts by describing herself as an "amateur geographer".

She was particularly active in promoting Primary geography within the GA:

She was the only primary teacher on the national curriculum geography working group, was instrumental in doubling the primary membership of the GA, and launched its influential journal, Primary Geographer, which she edited until 1995.

As a freelance lecturer and consultant she also provided the training and inspiration that non-specialists needed to break new ground in the subject, including three years at Homerton College, Cambridge.

"I've made it my crusade to try to help teachers with no background in geography, who may have given it up at 14, who were at first horrified by the demands of the curriculum," she says. There was little advice available during her own 27 years in the classroom: "I relied heavily on the association for support."

Others have talked about this.

References

Interview in the TES, 1998: https://www.tes.com/news/top-mountainsubject-week-geographyinterviewwendy-morgan

Article in 'Primary Geographer' from Spring 2019 with an interview

https://www.geography.org.uk/Journal-Issue/689d27ef-ae38-4403-9943-a67e667d5c0d

Chapter in this book:

https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/primary-school-geography-bill-marsden-jo-hughes/e/10.4324/9781351028783 

1987 Primary Geography Article

Morgan, Wendy. “Making Opportunities for Primary Geography.” Teaching Geography, vol. 12, no. 4, 1987, pp. 149–151. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/23751406. Accessed 20 Jan. 2021

A mention in Graham Butt's PhD thesis:

https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/76353.pdf

Graham mentions that Wendy was annoyed that she was the only Primary representative on the Working Group, and thought there should be more representation... she also felt that she was not always listened to, and also that Primary specialists should be listened to, rather than Secondary making decisions on what they should be learning. She felt there was a "golden thread" running through Primary Geography that needed to be appreciated more.

If you are interested in how a National Curriculum comes about, it's worth having a look at this document to see how this group worked, as there are plenty of comments to show the involvement and relative influence of other Presidents: Eleanor Rawling, Michael Storm, Rex Walford and others.... 

Presidential Address:
MORGAN, WENDY. “Geography for All.” Geography, vol. 83, no. 4, 1998, pp. 301–307. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40573103. Accessed 16 Jan. 2021.

Wendy wrote the book 'Plans for Primary Geography' and also a series of Primary study units called 'Geography in a Nutshell'.

1998 Conference Logo - a really inclusive Conference theme

Image is taken from this article.

This is a relatively brief entry and I would love to have a little more detail on Wendy's involvement with the GA if possible. I have not been able to make contact with Wendy as yet.

Updated August 2022

An image of Derek Spooner and Wendy which was taken at the Centenary Conference in 1993. The best image I've found of Wendy so far and was taken at the Long Standing members dinner I believe.

Further details on Wendy very welcome. This is a relatively short entry in the blog.

1996: GA News

1996 saw consultation on GCSEs and 'A' levels. An important time for many teachers as this would determine topics and approaches for some years to come. This important policy work, and responses to consultations has been a feature of the GA's work as well, with generations of GA Presidents being involved in collating responses to educational change. This is another reason to be a member of the GA: so that your voice can be heard, and viewpoints taken into account.

GA Conference 2021 - time to book your place

April 8th - 10th is the date of the 2021 GA Conference.

Unfortunately it will be online rather than face to face once again, but we were prepared for that this time round.

Booking is now open.

The theme, chosen by President Susan Pike is an important one for our current times: Compassionate Geographies.

Compassionate Geographies
It gives me great pleasure to announce the theme of the GA Conference for 2021: Compassionate geographies. Geographers are compassionate about the planet and all who inhabit it. The conference theme also encompasses all the GA stands for – compassion in supporting and challenging geographical learning, with a view to a better understanding of the world and its people. Compassion works at numerous levels across a high-quality geography education:
The geography education community has compassion for all its members. Participating in this community, through support and collaboration, ensures every member of the community can find their professional voice.
Our community cares greatly about the quality of geography education for young people. We care about the accuracy of the learning we share with them and each other, the quality of our teaching and more.
Conference 2021 will be an opportunity to celebrate and meet to share our compassion to excite and inspire our learners in geography.

Dr Susan Pike

Gus Caesar

Updated August 2023

Gus Caesar was described by former GA President Ashley Kent as arguably the ‘source’ of an extraordinary group of geography professors across the world: Haggett / Dury / Hall / Randall et al...a remarkable ‘father figure’ to many.

He was a tutor at St. Catharine's college, University of Cambridge. (Twitter account link)

He came up on a £20 Exhibition to St Catharine's College in 1933, gained double Firsts in Geography and was elected to a postgraduate scholarship in 1936. After the war he returned to a university lectureship and fellowship at Selwyn College and in 1951 moved back to his old college. For the next 30 years he was to hold almost every senior college post except that of Master.

He was Senior Tutor for Geography, working with Dr Keeble.

The above text is taken from his Obituary, written for the Independent newspaper by the famous geographer Peter Haggett.

Peter Haggett also said of Gus:

No one who experienced the hour-long inquisitions in his rooms on Main Court at St Catharine's, delivered through a haze of Three Nuns pipe smoke, will forget the process. Essays were disassembled, the reasonable parts retained, new components added, and the whole reassembled into something that was well ordered, logical and, above all, geographically sound. 

He had an innate sense of what gave coherence to a geographical point of view and drove that relentlessly into those he taught.

A story from the memorial address for J A Steers, who taught Gus:

Gus Caesar's splendid story of his own undergraduate days, when he was woken one morning, admittedly somewhat late, by a severe pain in his chest. Opening bleary eyes, he discovered that the cause of this pain was a walking stick, jabbing him in the ribs. And at the other end of the stick was, of course, Alfred, immaculately dressed as usual, with hat and briefcase, exclaiming "get up, get up, I'm lecturing to you in ten minutes!" 

References

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/obituary-gus-caesar-1600981.html - obituary in the Independent newspaper

With growling voice and the massive bulk of a second-row forward, Gus Caesar appeared ferocious. And as a Dean on the warpath after a rowdy boat-club supper, this image could stand him in good stead. But the reality was of a gentle and ever kindly man for whom the individual undergraduate (particularly if from St Catharine's) could always ask for support. 

His college house on Grantchester Meadows was a haven through which hundreds of visitors passed each year. 

His wife, Margaret, and daughter, Pat, could calculate to a nicety the strength of undergraduate appetites after the towpath walk back from Grantchester.

https://www.society.caths.cam.ac.uk/home/?m=page&id=1923 - St. Catharine's Society Journals

Image above is taken from the St. Catherine's Society Journal

https://www.society.caths.cam.ac.uk/Public_Magazines/1971r.pdf 

https://www.society.caths.cam.ac.uk/Public_Magazines/1987r.pdf 

Updated August 2023

Sir Peter Hall - Town Planner

https://discover.ukdataservice.ac.uk/assets/qualibank/6226themext016.pdf

I was taught by an outstanding teacher in economic geography, a guy called Gus Caesar, whose full name was almost unbelievably Alfred Augustus Levi Caesar, and he was a legendary figure in British geography...  He was not a researcher, he’d got a very poor research record, I don’t think he’d have got tenure nowadays, but he was an absolutely inspiring teacher in close supervision, because the style was, you would write an essay every week, of course, and he would read it, and he would tear the essay to pieces!  He’d say, “Look, old lad” – his favourite term – “Look, old lad, you’re putting the conclusions before the evidence.  Say what you think the hypothesis is, and then produce the evidence carefully, in logical order, and then the conclusions”.  He absolutely [analysed] your essay.  Everyone who was taught by Gus, has this extraordinary kind of intellectual discipline of being able to argue A to B to C to D, which none of us ever lost, I think.

https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/10042912/3/Hebbert_PH%20for%20GBS%20final%20ms.pdf

His path was determined by the offer of a geography scholarship at St Catharine’s College. Hall found Cambridge initially uncongenial, what with the snobbery of privately educated undergraduates towards provincial grammar schoolboys, the relatively low 3 academic esteem of his chosen discipline, and the bias of first year teaching towards the physical geography he least enjoyed. 

But in 1951 the situation was transformed by the college's appointment of A.A.L. Caesar (an alumnus) to be Fellow and Director of Studies in Geography. 

As the only Cambridge college offering geography scholarships, St Catharine’s attracted the pick of the crop and for the next 29 years Gus Caesar was their academic mentor. The weekly supervisions in which Caesar deployed his ‘formidable powers of critical dissection and logical rearrangement’ (Haggett 1965, ii) nurtured many rising stars of the discipline (Johnston and Williams 2003, 309) and Hall recollected them as the high point of his undergraduate career (2003b, 2014f). 

He had already learned from George Orwell how to write clearly without resort to jargon; now he learned how to construct arguments, marshal empirical evidence, and submit to relentless self-criticism—‘progress is a mistake-making business’ was one of Gus’s aphorisms. 

More than this, Caesar was a committed advocate of geography as an applied science, with regional planning as its practical outcome. He had coauthored the chapter on the ‘North-east of England’ and written those on ‘Gloucester–Wiltshire–Somerset’ and ‘Devon and Cornwall’ in G.H.J. Daysh’s Studies in Regional Planning: Outline Surveys and Proposals for the Development of Certain Regions of England and Scotland (1949). The authors conceived regional planning to be a self-contained policy process in which the geographer ascertained trends, constraints, and requirements so that planner might devise proposals for administrators to implement. 

For his presidential address to section E of the British Association for the Advancement of Science at Southampton in August 1964, A.A.L. Caesar spoke on ‘Planning and the geography of Great Britain’. He emphasized the inexorable geographical trends of economic centralization on South-east England and the midlands, the decline of peripheral regions, road transport growth and extensive railway closures. ‘The Twentieth Century pattern must be accepted—there is need to contemplate that of the Twenty first Century. 

If Megalopolis is coming, let us at least be aware of it and let us plan for it’—a challenge for geography indeed (1964, 240). 

Caesar himself had little direct involvement in public policy, but his teaching of geography as an applied science was profoundly influential, as seven of his distinguished former students—Michael Chisholm, Peter Haggett, Peter Hall, David Keeble, Gerald Manners, Ray Pahl and Kenneth Warren—acknowledged in their Spatial Policy Problems of the British Economy (1971).

Memories from the late David R Wright - another legend who has appeared on the blog

https://www.geog.cam.ac.uk/files/alumni/landmark/landmark1/landmark1.pdf

1995: 'Teaching Geography' goes full colour

1995 saw the GA's flagship peer-reviewed journal, which began as 'The Geographical Teacher' in 1901 go through a redesign.

It was edited by Derek Spooner (GA President in 2000) for many years. By this stage, it had gone through a redesign as well, along with a shift in emphasis in the articles.

In the same year, 'Teaching Geography' went full colour - previously only the front cover was in full colour.

1996: W(illiam) Ashley Kent

Updated August 2023

Ashley Kent had a long career as an academic geographer.
As with quite a few other former GA Presidents, Ashley Kent worked at the Institute of Education for many years.

I own a copy of the book whose cover is shown below, which has proved useful in the past, and has several chapters written by a number of other former Presidents as well. Like many of his books, it has run to several editions.

His PhD thesis was on the adoption of CAL (computer assisted learning) and acts as a useful summary of the development of IT in Geography classrooms - this connects with the work of another President: Peter Fox, (and I will discuss his role at the appropriate time). See the link at the end of the post to download a copy if you are interested.

He also wrote an influential book with Michael Bradford (another former President, who sadly died in 2019) called just 'Bradford and Kent' by the many teachers who used it. I mentioned that book in a recent blog post.

He was also part of the authoring team of the Oxford Geography Project, which I used back in the day when I first started teaching. Copies of this can still be obtained second hand.

Ashley proved elusive to track down for some further information for some time, from the start of my blog writing. 

I was able to swap e-mails with Ashley earlier this year, and he provided me with further information, which is now included below:

I was born in 1945. 

I attended St. Catharine's college, Cambridge - as did at least three other GA Presidents including Derek Spooner. 

My teaching career began as a student teacher at St Dunstan’s College, Catford where Brian Fitzgerald was head of department and Neville Grenyer a member of staff…both became HMI’s!

I then taught at Haberdashers’ Aske’s School, Elstree where my colleagues included John Rolfe, Neville Grenyer, Rosie Grenyer and Clive Rowe.

I was then head of department at John Mason School, Abingdon with Eleanor Rawling as a close colleague. What a powerful department that must have been!

Eleanor and I then moved to the Geography 16-19 Project at the Institute of Education with Michael Naish.
I then became a lecturer and eventually a professor and pro-Director at the Institute of Education.

My major textbooks were the Oxford Geography Project written by the Haberdashers’ team for years 7-9; and two textbooks written with Michael Bradford: Human Geography: Theories and their applications (1977) - and Understanding Human Geography: People and their changing environments (1993). 

Both were aimed at A level and first year university students. 

All published by Oxford University Press…and fortunately sold quite a few copies!?

I joined the GA in 1969 so have been a member for over 50 years!

Further details from his CV:

He has taught in a variety of secondary schools; the University of Wisconsin-Madison; the UK’s

Open University and was Associate Director of the Geography 16-19 Project a nationally funded

curriculum development project.

He has longstanding professional and research interests in: curriculum development and evaluation;

innovation and change (the focus of his PhD work); teaching strategies including fieldwork; the

marketing and image of geography; the school/HE interface; information technology, including

remote sensing; developments in human geography; 16-19 geography; initial teacher education;

stereotyping and bias; and environmental hazards.

He has directed a number of research and development projects including: Project HIT (Humanities

and Information Technology); Remote Sensing in the Geography National Curriculum Project; Centre

for ‘A’ level Curriculum Support; Eurogame Project, a large scale European funded multi media

development; Geography 16-19; Learning Geography with Computers; YoungNet; DUNES; and

pillar leader of the HERODOT Project.

On his involvement with the GA, Ashley sent me this resumé:

He has been fully involved with the Geographical Association (GA) since 1969. He was on GA

Council for 15 years and has been its President. He was a member of COBRIG (Council for British

Geography) and has been its chairman. Over the years, he has been engaged in a number of

geography education research projects, both in the UK and for the International Geographical

Education (IGU), Geography Education Commission. He has presented papers at IGU conferences

across the world and was both a full member of the IGU Geography Education Commission and a

former chair of the British Sub-Committee. He has published widely in geography education and

education both for professional and academic audiences. This has included a number of successful

school and university textbooks.

The common thread in his career has been an involvement and passion for education at a variety of

levels and specifically curriculum development and teacher education.

I tracked down his PhD Thesis from 1996, which was titled:

"Process and Pattern of a Curriculum Innovation".

The innovation in question was introduced at the start:

The innovation in question is the use made by secondary school geography departments of computer assisted learning.

Ashley mentioned 2 key documents that sum up his approach to Geography

‘Geography’ October 1997 ‘Challenging Geography’----my Presidential Lecture presented at the Institute of Education

KENT, ASHLEY. “Challenging Geography: A Personal View.” Geography, vol. 82, no. 4, 1997, pp. 293–303. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40572948. Accessed 15 Jan. 2021. 

James Fairgrieve featured in the Presidential Address, where Ashley outlined his life and also the strong connections between the IoE and the GA. It is well worth reading to get an idea for the links and the changing nature of Geography. 

Ashley provides additional detail on Fairgrieve's life.

His inaugural professorial lecture in 2004 entitled ‘Windows on Geographical Education’….published by the University of London Institute of Education…2004

He was the tutor on the IoE's MA in Geography Education for many years. This went online from 2001, having been offered at UCL since the 1960s

He contributed to an IoE publication on retired academics in 2009, and was described as follows:

Ashley Kent retired as Professor of Geography Education at the Institute of Education, University of London - the culmination of a lifetime as a geography teacher.

“Exciting demanding, relevant and worthwhile – geography prepares pupils to critically understand and fully participate in the changing worlds in which they live” — Ashley Kent

In 2003, Chris Kington asked a number of former Presidents what had sparked their passion for geography. He lent me the letters and Ashley replied to Chris.

He talked about a "gradual realisation" that geography was for him. His geography teacher at school was described as "rigorous - a bit terrifying and gave us lots of autonomy...". He also remembers taking part in the 2nd Land Use survey, at Pilling Marshes and realising that it was all 'rough grazing'. He remembered his PGCE year and the influence of Walford and Fitgzerald et al. He also remembered his first year teaching at Haberdasher's Aske.

Many thanks to Chris Kington for the loan of the letters.

Ashley told me about his connections with Hull University and Derek Spooner, with whom he led celebrations of the life of Michael Bradford (far more on Mike to come as we get closer to the present day)

He also had memories of my own PGCE tutor at Hull: Vincent Tidswell. He told me:

Vincent I knew through his work and the ‘new’ geography ....his Pattern and Process in Human Geography was followed by Keith Hilton’s Process and Pattern in Physical Geography. 

Keith was a colleague of mine at the Institute of Education....and knew Vincent through working at Hereford College of Education. 

Vincent also had links with Brian Fitzgerald who I met at St Dunstans College. 

That was for me as a keen young man/geographer....a really exciting time...we felt very much at the frontier of the ‘new’ geography, both new in terms of content and pedagogy. 

Oxford Geography Project was really at the leading edge....as were the Schools Council Projects....GYSL and 14-18 ...and the one I was very much part of...the 16-19 Project. 

People like Brian, Rex et al were at the forefront....it was great fun being part of it! 

The first book Mike and I wrote was a direct effort to help teachers to keep up to date with the ‘new’ geography then in several school and university syllabuses. 

Of course Mike and I were helped by being a part of Cambridge and US developments....we went to Madison Wisconsin after Cambridge...where a great deal of that stuff was going on.

Exciting times, and Vincent was very much part of that. I like to think he passed on a little of that love for exciting new approaches and pedagogies to his trainees, of which I am proud to have been one. I remember using GYSL in my first job in January 1988 at John Flamsteed School in Denby, Derbyshire.

Ashley also shared some memories of the next important phase in the GA's History: the move from Fulwood Road to Solly Street, where it has its HQ to this day. Ashley is amongst the Presidents and former staff who were involved in locating the GA's new premises. That story will be told next.

Image from GA News.

Update January 2021

Some memories of his Presidential conference from Ashley Kent.

In my Presidential Year we had the Conference at the Institute on Bedford Way, which I thought was appropriate given the long-standing links between the IOE and the GA. The Presidential Dinner was held at the Imperial Hotel on Russell Square. My guest of honour was the Crown Princess of Thailand: a much revered member of their royal family: very environmentally aware and active. He had been suggested by Professor Philip Scott: an extraordinary and alternative academic from SOAS. 

The assembled diners were kept waiting by the Princess, who had been having tea with Prince Charles at Highgrove and then visiting SOAS.
We were kept waiting by the guest of honour for quite a while...so much so I suggested more booze was supplied to all the waiting guests.

On her eventual entrance/arrival the assembled throng, on the advice we were given, all stood up and did the slow handclap, which apparently in Thailand is a mark of real respect.

She was accompanied by two armed generals and sat next to me at the top table and the generals became anxious ( I was told by folk sitting with them at one of the tables) when I engaged in a lively/animated story involving props, including a scroll given to her in memory of her visit.

It was all right on the night! 

Is there anyone who was there and has their own memories of this event?

References

List of papers on ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/2021831879-Ashley-Kent

http://worldcat.org/identities/lccn-n86036437/

PhD Thesis: https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/33677738.pdf

Professorial lecture: https://www.ucl-ioe-press.com/books/citizenship/windows-on-geographical-education/

KENT, ASHLEY. “Innovation, Change and Leadership in Geography Departments.” Geography, vol. 91, no. 2, 2006, pp. 117–125. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/41555403. Accessed 15 Jan. 2021.

Presidential Lecture, exploring the life of James Fairgrieve

KENT, ASHLEY. “Challenging Geography: A Personal View.” Geography, vol. 82, no. 4, 1997, pp. 293–303. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40572948. Accessed 15 Jan. 2021.

I would be pleased to receive any further details of Ashley Kent's time as GA President.

Updated August 2023

A link with the forthcoming GA President (as I write this) for 2023-24: Denise Freeman.

20 yrs ago today, I started out on a journey...I was looking fw to it, but didn’t realise how amazing it would turn out to be. Today, in 1999, I started my PGCE at @IOE_London with David Balderstone, @DavidMLambert1, Ashley Kent and Shelia King. Thank-you for what you started!

— Denise Freeman 🌎🙋🏻‍♀️ (@geography_DAF) September 20, 2019